UK Housing Market - Mixed Signals

There has been a sharp rise in the number of people taking out mortgages, but house prices are still falling, say two pieces of research. The Bank of England said 107,000 new home loans had been taken out in August, an 8,000 rise on the previous month and the highest level for 14 months. The total borrowed reached the highest for a year, at £23.8billion. However, the Nationwide Building Society said house prices remained in the doldrums during September, falling by 0.2pc in the month and only rising at an annual rate of 1.8pc - the weakest it has been since May 1996.
[Daily Telegraph page 38 - 30.09.05. Also reported in The Independent page 56, Financial Times page 4.]